Army Logistic in Hellenistic Warfare after Alexander the Great

In the generation after Alexander’s death, Hellenistic warfare became a multi-national, multi-disciplined, complex affair. Their ranks included specialist mounted lancers and lighter mounted skirmishers, heavy shock cavalry under their regiment commanders, swift light mounts, possibly double-mounts, the sarissa-bearing infantry phalanx, mobile hoplite infantry, bowmen, javelin-throwers, slingers with their favored long-range elliptical lead pellets, scouts, mercenary units, ambushers and even armed slaves, all variously positioned under Greek, Macedonian and Asiatic officers. In front of the armies and at the wings stood armored, but unpredictable, elephants ridden by their mahouts.

The logistics involved in provisioning these armies were intricate and daunting, and the quantity of food needed was enormous.The 6,000-8,000 warhorses required high-starch fodder and the 30,000 men needed victualing with at least 3,600 calories and food containing 2.5 ounces of protein. Packhorses and mules, able to carry some 200 lbs. (camels could porter 300 lbs.) also needed 10 lbs. of grain and 8 gallons of water per day, though the beasts (camels in particular) could be eaten on the march once their loads were expended. Asian elephants could consume up to five per cent of their 11,000-plus-lb bodyweight per day, and they regularly consumed 330 lbs. of plant material while drinking 70 pints of water.

Besides troop numbers, many non-combatant camp followers were retained in some capacity: the interpreters, metal smiths, cooks, herders, tanners, porters, wagon-drivers, hunters, slave traders, clerks, doctors, paymasters, guides, map-makers and engineers; most of a soldier’s pay would in fact have been ‘reinvested’ in the camp economy. There may have been one camp follower for every two combatants, and in addition, each file of infantrymen would have had a servant in charge of a mule or a camel laden with their goods, including tents.

This extravagant early Hellenistic warfare was heavy on cost and consequences, and it was only made possible by depleting the treasuries accumulated by the Achaemenid kings under a complex network of tax levies they had established over centuries. Such expenditure could not be sustained for long in the absence of administrative stability were under pressure to establish a new more durable infrastructure that lasted until the arrival of Rome.